Descovering Depth in Typography

As part of my research I decided to expand my search beyond the internet and so my first step was to go to the library and do some research:

As well as scanning these examples I took out a few books, I'm currently making my way through Just My Type which I am really enjoying and look forward to implementing what I learn in future projects.

• Garfield, S. (2011) Just My Type. Profile Books
• Woolman, M (2005) Type in  Motion 2, 2nd Ed. Thames & Hudson
• Gibbs, D., Hillman, D (1998) Pentagram: The Compendium: Thoughts, Essays and Work of the Pentagram Partners in London, New York and San Francisco. Phaidon.

A few other places deserve mention; the YouTuber Karen Kavett, a graphic designer who's had a dedicated channel for some years now, all the way through art school and through her job at YouTube before recently leaving to persue freelance projects. She's a little over enthusiastic at times but genuinely charming and she has done a few videos dedicated to Typography which where a great place to start and lead me to the Helvetica Movie and also to investigate a few professional fonts... EXPENSIVE!

The Other Idioms

A few idioms from the Victorian Era

Put Nebuchadnezzar out to grass

Bang up to the Elephant

Butter up Bacon!

Cat-Lap

Don't Sell me a Dog!

Got the Morbs

And some from the Roaring Twenties

"Now you're on the trolly"

Drugstore Cowboy

Don't know from nothing

Phonus Balonus

Some minimal idioms for use when composed as part of an image as seen below

Touch (wood) / Knock (on wood)
Learn (the ropes)
Pretty (as a picture)
Cute (as a button)
New Kid (on the block)
No (Dice)

Nautical Idioms

Weather the Storm

Gratuitous Grids

As part of our development we must show our understanding of Grid Systems, as part of this I developed this initial image in class showing rudimentary use of grid systems.

Unfortunately by using 17 columns this image is robbed of flexibility. Instead of such an odd number multiples of three and four allow for greater flexibility in layout. Twelve is ideal as it is a multiple of both.

Here I have a grid of twelve vertical columns which can be dissected into groups of two, three or four or six.

These keep the elements in proportion to each other.

When used in conjunction with the Rule of Three the image will be balanced.

Compositions can be developed further by using the Fibonacci Sequence to further dissect the image.

“You (having) Sheng (sound) You (having) Se (color).” (有声有色) This literally means “having sound and having color”; that is, “vivid” and “impressive.”

Here is one I had done previously to applying the Golden Ratio, it only required minor tweaks as subconsciously I was seeking the mimic that very same composition. It utilized the ration on only one axis unlike the panel in Watchmen which utilizes it on four.

By adhering to the rule of thirds composition integrity can be maintained even when moved off axis.

Or used with more circular designs

Contrast

While I have covered some aspects of contrast in previous posts I thought I should post a few more to specifically hight some aspects

In this image the two pages contrast of colour verses grayscale. The red background on the background helps define the text which is clearly legible but the other page in contrast is less defined due to its lack of colour and more complex typography.

Here is a canvas I did for my ND Art and Design project, the imagery was taken from black and white stills of classic Noir and had excellent representation of contrast both in use of colour and as seen above splitting the composition between hard straight lines of the wall and the softer curves of the woman's face peering from the shadows.

A productive evening part 2

Following my earlier success I spent a few hours disecting my favorite elements of my existing ideas and inspired by the Porto Brand project proceeded to construct a rough visual guide based on these elements.

A Brand by any other name... Sketchbooks and Sigils

Initially when I got the project I began by sketching out some ideas in a notebook. I quickly upgraded to a sketch book but here are the scans of that development.

Mind map in an attempt to identify elements to develop

Here I tried to use a rough grid to belp balance the proportions of my sketches

Some rough glyphs copied from my Dictionary of Occult Symbols.

I developed a few sigils based on Grant Morrison's advice:

(sans the masturbation part, that seemed unnecessary for my purposes)

The idea of using "empowered" Sigils in my business card was an amusing one so I mocked up one based on one of my propose brand names "Grawlix"

Here is some of my development towards that and other brand names, including Grimoire Graphique which I would use in my final designs

Emphasis

Emphasis

During my research into emphasis I found some great examples.

This movie poster makes great use of emphasis though by constructing the woman's dress from a scribbled pattern and aligning the text up it's edge, heavier at the top. The resulting effect draws the eye much like an arrow, It gets bonus points for being reminiscent of Gustav Klimpt's "The Kiss" as he has long been one of my favourite artists.

Here the use of strong block colour; Black on Red, draws the eyes between the two armed children to the highlighted word destroy and finally up to the war child logo before the eye settles on the image where the white text is read and an discreet arrow draws the eye up to the word Donate. The black borders also help frame the image, keeping the eye from straying. A very effective advertisment.

For an audio only podcast Welcome to Night Vale has some great design, perhaps necessitated by the lack of visual representation for their cast. Their logo scales excellently to fit prominently among other podcasts on your iphone up to posters and desktop wallpapers. Straight line and curves, and white and black divide the image and contrast strongly highlighting the clear bold font and looming moon while the iconic colour palette balances with the black, while hinting a great eye over the town, representing the pervasive weirdness that permeates the series and perhaps the perception of Cecil Palmer, the narrator. Through layered emphasis the designer hints at many of the show's core precepts, and makes it very representational of the show.